Air fan

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides air fans with enhanced oscillating mechanism. In one aspect of this invention, the air fan comprises main propeller ( 19 ), a main motor ( 24 ) operably connected to the main propeller ( 19 ), driving the main propeller ( 19 ) to rotate to generate air stream, and a wind guide device composed of a wind guard plate ( 35 ) and a wind reject plate ( 21 ) and surrounding the main propeller ( 19 ). An auxiliary motor ( 53 ) operably connected to the wind guide device via a rotation-oscillation shifting device, for driving the wind guide device to oscillate to change the wind direction. In a further aspect of this invention, only the motor for the oscillating mechanism is in motion to drive the relatively lighter wind channel while the enclosure and motor for the wind wheel remain static during operation. The air fans feature less safety hazard, a prolonged service life, a lower noise and easier operation.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/101,875, filed on Apr. 7, 2005, the entire content of which is incorporated here by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to air fans, and especially relates to air fans with enhanced oscillating mechanisms.

BACKGROUND ART

The prior art discloses various fans such as ground fans, table fans, ceiling fans, vane rotating fans, and transverse flow type fans, some examples of which can be seen in the patent documents U.S. Pat. No. 6,344,065B1, CN1063530C, CN10343A and CN1141603A or in FS29-SW V4 tower fan as shown in FIG. 4.

As for conventional ground fans, table fans, ceiling fans and transverse flow type fans, wind direction is changed by allowing the whole fan head and the whole substantially cylindrical housing to oscillate. In this circumstance, the whole fan head and the whole substantially cylindrical housing have a large mass, so the rotation inertia is relatively great, and more energy is consumed to change wind direction. With respect to the conventional vane rotating fans, the guide vanes in the front face are rotated to change wind direction. Under this circumstance, the radius of the guide vanes is relatively large, so the rotation inertia is relatively great, and more energy is consumed to change wind direction. In addition, the conventional fans with oscillating heads require a predetermined indoor laze for oscillation of the head, which is particularly disadvantageous in a narrow environment. To sum up, one defect of the fans in the prior art is greater consumption of energy and larger occupation of space.

As the oscillating part (the whole fan head and the whole substantially cylindrical housing) or rotating part (guide vanes) for changing wind direction are exposed to the outside in the prior art, oscillation or rotation might injure by accident the ambient object or human beings such as an operator. For example, when a juvenile operates the air fan, the oscillating head, housing or rotating varies might injure his fingers by accident. In summary, another defect of fans in the prior art is a certain of danger in operation.

In addition, the conventional fan with oscillating head, in operation, may shift its center of gravity due to oscillation of the head. Therefore, another defect of fans in the prior art is that the fan in operation is not stable and steady enough and is liable to overturn.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first aspect of this invention, there is provided an air fan adopting an internal oscillation technology, comprising a main propeller and a main motor operably connected to the main propeller, the main motor driving the main propeller to rotate to generate air stream, characterized in that the air fan further comprises a wind guide device composed of a wind guard plate and a wind reject plate and surrounding the main propeller. A gap is provided between the wind guard plate and the wind reject plate for facilitating air flowing out. An auxiliary motor is operably connected to the wind guide device via a rotation-oscillation shifting device, for driving the wind guide device to oscillate to change the wind direction.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the air fan further comprises an ion generator.

In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the air fan further comprises a water filter.

In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the air fan further comprises an enclosure in which the main propeller and the wind guide device are both disposed.

In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the rotation-oscillation shifting device is a crank and rocker mechanism.

In a even further embodiment of this invention, there is provided a tower-type electric fan, including an enclosure, a wind wheel, a main motor which drives a wind wheel to rotate to produce wind, a wind channel which transfers air out of the rotating wind wheel, and an oscillating mechanism, characterized in that in operation, the oscillating mechanism drives the wind channel to rotate while the enclosure and main motor remain static.

As used herein, a “wind channel” refers to all components which deliver air out of the rotating wind wheel, including possibly front and rear wind guards, etc., but excluding the main motor and the motor holder which are secured inside the wind channel. The “wind channel system” refers to the structure comprises of the wind channel as well as the main motor 1′ and the motor holder 2′ which are installed inside as can be in FIG. 5.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the separating plate of front enclosure and middle-shaft plate are removed from the motor securing structure. The motor holder is directly secured to the front enclosure, and functions as a stopper of the oscillating mechanism.

The fan in this embodiment adopts an oscillating mechanism in which only the wind channel is in rotational movement while the fan body and main motor remain static. The motor is installed on the new-type motor holder which is secured to the enclosure of the fan. A motor holder hole is made on the plane of the motor holder and a round ring is made along the hole.

The upper end of the new wind channel is tightly connected to a shaft, and the shaft is fixed to the top of the fan enclosure through a clamping-pad, vibration isolating rubber and wearing-proof bushing. A motor holder hole is also made at the bottom of the wind channel and a round ring is made along the hole. The ring is covered by a wearing-proof track. A ball ring containing 6 steel balls is attached to the bottom of the track. Other numbers of the steel balls are also contemplated in this invention.

The wind channel, track and ring are connected together to the motor holder ring. The steel balls of the ball ring are horizontally slideable on the top plane of the motor holder. The wind wheel is installed after the motor shaft has extended through the motor holder, ball ring, track and the motor holder hole of the wind channel. The upper end of the wind wheel is fixed to a bearing which is fastened to the fan enclosure with two screws.

In this way, during oscillation the entire fan body does not need to rotate and a wide fanning range can be created by driving the wind channel alone. Other parts fixed to the enclosure, such as the main motor, wind wheel and internal wire, do not oscillate with the motion of the fan body, thus significantly reducing load of the oscillating mechanism and noise from oscillation. Potential safety hazard of short-circuit caused by wire's rubbing on oscillating mechanism can be absolutely eliminated.

In another preferred embodiment of the invention, a bolt for securing the motor holder is placed at the bottom of the aforementioned front enclosure. The aforementioned motor holder is a U-shaped bracket composed of three faces. The top face of the motor holder acts as the supporting surface of the oscillating wind channel. A hole is made on the motor holder, and a round ring is made along the hole and used as a stopping plate for centering the operation of the oscillating wind channel. A motor holder hole is made at the lower plane of the aforementioned wind channel, and a round ring is made along the hole.

During oscillation of the wind channel, its upper end rotates inside the shaft bushing by means of a shaft, and the lower end slides horizontally on the plane of the motor holder by means of the 6 steel balls.

The main motor for the wind wheel can be secured either to the base of the fan or to the inner side wall of the enclosure, where the latter is more technically desirable because the main motor being secured to the inner side wall of the enclosure is closer to the wind wheel. Thus a shorter motor shaft can be used between them to bear higher torque and achieve stable operation.

As compared with the prior art, the present invention is advantageous in the following points: 1) the rotation inertia of the oscillating member (i.e., the wind guard plate and the wind reject plate) is smaller, so the air fan according to the present invention is enemy saving; besides, no space need to be reserved to facilitate oscillation of head of the air fan, which is particularly advantageous in a narrow environment; 2) the enclosure is stationary and encloses the oscillating wind guide device so that the air fast is pretty much safer; 3) the internal oscillation technology allows the center of gravity of the whole air fan to be stable and steady so that the center of gravity is not shifted any more as in the conventional fans due to oscillation of head, As a result, the air fan according to the present invention is extremely stable and is not liable to overturn.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be specified by describing the preferred embodiments with reference to the following drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an air fan of the preferred embodiment according to the first aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of component parts of the air fan of the preferred embodiment according to the first aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is another perspective view of the air fan of the preferred embodiment according to one aspect of the present invention, roughly showing the mounting positions of and connection relation between a wind guide device end an auxiliary motor;

FIG. 4 is a view of a FS29-SW tower fan in the prior art;

FIG. 5 is a structural illustration of the fan according to another aspect of this invention;

FIG. 6 is an A-A sectional view of the fan of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a structural illustration of the fan of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is an illustration of the front enclosure of the fan of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 9 is an installation illustration of the wind channel of the fan of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the air fan of the preferred embodiment (the applicant's product model JH-AFN) according to the one aspect of the present invention comprises a substantially cylindrical main propeller 19 which may be a conventional propeller used in a transverse flow fan or of other similar configurations, so the specific structure of the main propeller is not described in detail herein. In the description hereunder, “axial direction” refer to the direction of the vertical axis of the main propeller 19 when the air fan is placed normally, and “radial direction” refers to the direction perpendicular to the axis. A main motor 24 is operatively connected to the main propeller 19 in a convectional manner along the axial direction of the main propeller 19, and is used to drive the main propeller 19 to rotate to generate air stream. The main motor 24 is detachably held in a main motor holder 26 via screws.

The air fan according to the present invention further comprises a wind guide device composed of a wind guard plate 35 and a wind reject plate 21 and surrounding the main propeller 19. The wind guard plate 35 and the wind reject plate 21 are disposed along the axial direction of the main propeller 19 and are detachably connected to each other. The wind guard plate 35 has a top wall and a bottom wall extending along the radial direction of the main propeller 19. The top end of the main propeller 19 is supported on the top wall and the lower end of the main propeller 19 is operably connected to the main motor 24. The holder 26 of the main motor 24 is connected to the bottom wall of the wind guard plate 35. Besides, there remains a gap between the wind guard plate 35 and the wind reject plate 21 for facilitaling air flowing out.

The air fan according to the present invention further comprises an enclosure which is of a combined type, comprising an upper front enclosure 5, a lower front enclosure 80, an upper rear enclosure 65 and a lower rear enclosure 75. The said enclosures are assembled together to form a substantially cylindrical unitary enclosure in which the main propeller 19 and the wind guide device are received. Specifically, the upper portion of the upper front enclose 5 can be provided with an opening for receiving a remote controller and some accessories thereof. The upper rear enclosure 65 comprises a top plate, a bottom plate and a middle partition. The wind guard plate 35 at the top end thereof is supported on the top plate of the upper rear enclosure 65 via the upper shaft 33 and accessories such a shaft clamp 29, a shaft ring 31 and a shaft bushing 32, and at the bottom end thereof is supported on the middle partition of the upper rear enclose 65 via a lower shaft 37 line accessories such as a shill clamp 43, a shaft ring 41, a shaft bushing 40, a shaft support 39 and a washer 38. The middle partition is provided thereon with a rotation-oscillation shifting device.

Specifically, in the preferred embodiment according to the present invention, the rotation-oscillation shifting device is a crank and rocker mechanism shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, comprising a cam 51 and a cam lever 46 which both ends are respectively provided with a hole. One end of the cam 51 is provided with a hole cooperating with the output shaft of a synchronous motor 53. The cam 51 is connected to the output shaft via a cam pin 52 so that the cam 51 can be driven by the synchronous motor 53 to rotate. The other end of the cam 51 is provided with a protruding portion for inserting into the hole at one end of the cam lever 46, thereby hinged with said end of the cam lever 46.

In addition, the bottom wall of the wind of guard plate 35 is also provided with a protruding portion for inserting into the hole at the other end of the cam lever 46, thereby hinged with said the other end of the cam lever 46. In principle, the middle partition portion from the oscillation center of the wind guard plate 35 to the rotation center of the clam 51 is equivalent to the fixing lever of the crack and rocker mechanism, the cool 51 is equivalent to the crank, the cam lever 46 is equivalent to a connection lever, and the wind guard plate 35 is equivalent to a rocker.

In operation, the synchronous motor 53 drives the cam 51 (crank) to rotate. The rotation is shifted into oscillation of the wind guard plate 35 (racket) via the crank and rocker mechanism, thereby realizing the object of charging wind direction. Although the rotation-oscillation shifting device is described in combination with a crack and rocker mechanism herein, those having ordinary skills in the art should understand that any other devices which can realize the shifting front rotation to oscillation all fall into the scope of the present invention, for example, parallel double crank mechanism, oscillation guide lever mechanism, oscillation driven member disk-shaped cam mechanism.

In addition, a space is defined between the bottom plate and middle partition of the upper rear enclosure 65, for receiving a main controller 57 and some accessories.

After being assembled and formed, the unitary enclosure is seated into a base consisting of a front base 63 and a rear base 77.

It is easy to understand from the above that so-called internal oscillation technology means that rotation of the main propeller 19 and oscillation of the wind guide device both take place in the interior of the enclosure.

In another preferred embodiment (applicant's product model JH-AFI) according to the present invention, the air far comprises an ion generator 85. The wind reject plate 21 is made of for example metal and the ion generator 85 is secured to the wind reject plate 21 via an ion generator holder 81 and screws. It is understood herein that the mounting position of the ion generator 85 can he freely selected as needed. The functions, principle and structure of the on generator 85 are well known and therefore are not described in detail herein. The ion generator is advantageous in that it can generate anion in the course of operation of the air fan, in that it is conducive to improvement of ambient air environment and promotes a user's physical and mental health.

In another preferred embodiment (applicant's product model JH-AFW) according to the present invention, the air fan comprises a water filter. In this embodiment, as shown in the left lower part of FIG. 2, the lower portion of the lower front enclosure 86 is provided with an opening through which a water tank 100 and its accessories are received in a space encompassed by the lower front enclosure 86 and the lower rear enclosure 75. Said accessories include for example a shaded-pole motor 91, a shaded-pole motor holder 92, a propeller upper enclosure 94, a propeller 95, a propeller lower enclosure 97 and a water tank cover 99. The functions, principle and structure of the water alter are well known and therefore are not described in detail herein. The water filler is advantageous in that it can filter dust and impurities in the air during the operation of the air fan and is conducive to improvement of ambient air environment. Besides, the water filter has the advantage of increasing air humidity when used in dry regions.

Turning to FIGS. 5-9, the oscillating mechanism of the air fan according to a further aspect of this invention comprises a front enclosure 4′, a wind channel 12′, a track 30′ and a ball ring 31′, balls 32′, a wind wheel 13′, a main motor 1′ and a main motor holder 2′ as well as a synchronous motor 17′, among other things.

The main motor 1′ is secured to the motor holder 2′, which in turn is fixed to the five bolts of the enclosure. A motor holder hole 34′ is made on the plane of the motor holder and a round ring 33′ is made on the hole.

A shaft 10′ is tightly fastened to the upper end of the wind channel, and it is clamped to the top of the enclosure by means of a vibration isolating rubber 9′, a shaft bushing 11 ′ and a ball 8′.

A motor holder hole 28′ is made on the lower plane of the wind channel, and a round ring 29′ is made along the hole. Then a wearing-proof track 30′ is put on the ring. A ball ring 32′ containing six steel balls is installed underneath the track.

The wind channel, track and ball ring are fastened to the ring of the motor holder, and steel balls of the ball ring horizontally slides on the top surface of the motor holder.

The main motor shaft 27′ is fastened to the wind wheel bushing 26′ after extending through the motor holder, ball ring and hole, and the wind wheel shaft 23′ is fixed to the bearing 25′ which is installed on the fan's enclosure with two screws 24′.

A shaft connecting-point is made on the lower plane of the wind channel, and an oscillating shaft 21′ is tightened to the connecting-point. A plastic bushing 20′ fixed to the oscillating shaft is flexibly connected to a connecting lever 15′ of the oscillating mechanism.

The synchronous motor 17′ of the oscillating mechanism is fixed to the enclosure of the fan unit. During oscillation the synchronous motor 17′ drives the crank 16′ to rotate with the connecting lever 15′, and the connecting lever 15′ drives the wind channel 12′ to achieve continuous oscillation. Although the preceding text describes the preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the drawings, those having ordinary skill in the art understand that the present invention is not limited to the above specific preferred embodiments. For example, the connection modes between component parts can be freely selected as needed, for example threaded connection, riveting, adhesive connection or welding. The adopted drive source can be any one motor selected by those having ordinary skill in the art and other drive sources beside motors, not limited to the synchronous motor and the shaded-pole motor as described herein. In addition, the function of one part can be realized by two or more parts, vice versa. In one word, those having ordinary skill in the art can make various variations and improvements to the extent they do not go beyond the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims. 

1. An air fan, comprising: a main propeller (19); a main motor (24) operably connected to the main propeller (19), driving the main propeller (19) to rotate to generate air stream; characterized in that the fan further comprises a wind guide device composed of a wind guard plate (35) and a wind reject plate (21) and surrounding the main propeller (19), a gap is provided between the wind guard plate (35) and the wind reject plate (21) for facilitating flowing out of air, and an auxiliary motor (53) is operably connected to the wind guide device via a rotation-oscillation shifting device, for driving the wind guide device to oscillate to change the wind direction.
 2. The air fan as of claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises an ion generator (85).
 3. The air fan of claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises a water filter.
 4. The air fan of claim 2, characterized in that it further comprises a water filter.
 5. The air fan of any one of claim 14, characterized in that it further comprises an enclosure in which the main propeller (19) and the wind guide device are both disposed.
 6. The air fan of any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that the rotation-oscillation shifting device is a crank and rocker mechanism.
 7. The air fan of claim 5, characterized in that the rotation-oscillation shifting device is a crank and rocker mechanism.
 8. An air fan, comprising an enclosure (4′), a wind wheel (13′), a main motor (1′) which drives the wind wheel (13′) to generate air, a wind channel (12′) which delivers air out of the rotating wind wheel and an oscillating mechanism (15′, 16′, 17′), wherein during operation, the motor for the oscillating mechanism is in motion to drive the wind channel (12′) while the enclosure (4′) and the main motor (1′) remain static.
 9. The air fan of claim 8, wherein the holder (2′) of the main motor (1′) is secured to the front enclosure (4′).
 10. The air fan of claim 8, wherein the screws for securing the holder (2′) are placed at the bottom of the front enclosure (4′) and the main motor (1′) is secured to the said front enclosure by means of the holder (2′).
 11. The air fan of claim 8, wherein the oscillating mechanism (15′, 16′, 17′) comprises a second motor (17′), a crank (16′) and a connecting-lever (15′), and the second motor (17′) is secured to the enclosure (4′); and the second motor (17′) drives the crank (16′) in rotation with the connecting-lever (15′) which then drives the wind channel (12′) to achieve reciprocating oscillation.
 12. The air fan of claim 8, wherein the bottom of the wind channel (12′) is secured to the holder (2′) of the main motor (1′) by means of ball sliding, and the wind channel (12′) slides horizontally during operation on the plane of the holder (2′).
 13. The tower-type electric fan of claim 8, wherein a shaft (10′) is tightly fastened to the upper end of the said wind channel (12′), and the shaft (10′) is clamped to the top of the enclosure (4′) by means of a vibration isolating rubber (9′), a shaft bushing (11′) and a ball (8′).
 14. The tower-type electric fan of claim 11, wherein a sleeve shaft (22′) is made on the lower plane of the said wind channel (12′), and an oscillating shaft (21′) is tightened to the sleeve shaft (22′); and a plastic bushing (20′) secured to the oscillating shaft (21′) is flexibly connected to the connecting lever (15′) of the oscillating mechanism (15′, 16′, 17′).
 15. The tower-type electric fan of claim 8, a first hole (34′) is made on the holder (2′) of the main motor (1′) and a second hole (28′) is made on the lower plane of the wind channel (12′); a round ring (29′) is made on the second hole (28′) and a track (30′) is put on the round ring (29′); a ball ring (31′) containing balls (30′) is attached to the bottom of the track (30′); and the main motor (1′) is secured to the bushing (26′) of the said wind wheel (13′) after it extends through the first hole (34′), the ball ring (31′), the track (30′) and the second hole (30′).
 16. The tower-type electric fan of claim 8, wherein the motor shaft (27′) between the main motor (1′) and the wind wheel (13′) is shorter in length than the shaft (21′) between the second motor (17′) and the wind channel (12′).
 17. The tower-type electric fan of claim 8, wherein the main motor (1′) is close to the wind wheel (13′).
 18. The tower-type electric fan of claim 11, the main motor (1′) lies between the second motor (17′) and the wind wheel (13′). 